Michael Buble has fought off tough competition from Mumford & Sons and Little Mix to claim his fourth number one album.
Love, the Canadian’s 10th studio album and his first in two years, claimed the top spot in the UK album chart with the crooner notching up 66,794 combined sales.
Just behind were British folk-rockers Mumford & Sons, whose album Delta sold 8,500 less copies than necessary to claim the top spot, according to the Official Charts Company.
Michael's new album ❤️ on display in New York City's Times Square yesterday thanks to @spotify! https://t.co/CWdL12tv5A pic.twitter.com/vXsDqjrqnD
— Michael Bublé (@michaelbuble) November 17, 2018
Languishing in third place were Little Mix with their album LM5, which sold a still enviable 56,840 copies across all formats.
The girl band’s album was the most streamed of the week. However, bucking the trend towards streaming, 88% of Buble’s sales were in physical CD format.
Buble, 43, has previously produced three UK number one albums, Crazy Love (2009), Christmas (2011) and To Be Loved (2013).
“Walk with me, I think we’ll find a way”. Listen to #DeltaTheAlbum on @AppleMusic https://t.co/Pl4zuP4odc pic.twitter.com/cMRVbvYK01
— Mumford & Sons (@MumfordAndSons) November 22, 2018
The Greatest Showman’s motion picture cast recording retained fourth place and the original soundtrack to Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody sat in fifth.
Outside of the top five, Elton John’s career retrospective Diamonds jumped 19 places to 29 following his appearance in John Lewis’ Christmas advert.
Merrie Land, the most recent album from the Damon Albarn-fronted supergroup The Good, The Bad & The Queen, opened at 31.
Over on the singles charts, Ariana Grande continued her reign at the top as her track, Thank U, Next, held number one for a third week.
that’s all for today …. thank u, next 🖤🏈 pic.twitter.com/D6KRNAayXc
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) November 21, 2018
It is her first single to reach number one without featuring a collaborator, and her first to stay at number one for more than a week.
Previous chart-toppers Problem featuring Iggy Azalea and Bang Bang featuring Jessie J managed only a single week.
Little Mix’s Woman Like Me moved back to second place after a week at number three, displacing Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s Shallow to third place.
Jess Glynne’s slow-burner, Thursday, crept into fourth place, giving the British singer her ninth UK top five single, equalling Rita Ora’s record for the number of top fives by a British female soloist.
In fifth place was Ora herself with Let You Love Me.